Four Indians get bye at Youth World C'ships

Asian silver-medallists Gaurav Solanki (52kg) and Neel Kamal Singh (75kg) were among the fours Indians who were handed first-round byes in the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships, which would double up as a qualifying event for the Youth Olympics, in Sofia, Bulgaria starting today.
Manjeet (69kg) and Manju Bombariya (75kg) are the other Indian boxers to get a bye in the mega-tournament, which combines the men's and women's competition for the first time.
The Indian campaign will be opened by Shyam Kakara (49kg), who will be up against UAE's Abdulla Almulla.
Tomorrow, K Sathish Kumar (56kg) will face Hungary's Nandor Csoka, while Sandeep Kumar (60kg) will be up against Latvia's Ralfs Ausmanis.

On Wednesday, Neeraj Parasar (64kg) will square off against Turkmenistan's Chagrylbeg Pazzyev. Neel Kamal will be in action on April 18, followed by Asian bronze-medallist Manjeet on April 19. Their opponents are yet to be decided.
Gaurav will start his campaign on April 17.

In the women's competition, Manju will face Turkey's Sema Caliskan in her second-round bout on April 18. Jamuna Boro (60kg) will face Lesotho's Ntsike Mofalali.
The talented Nikhat Zareen (51kg) will be in action tomorrow morning against Turkey's Neriman Istik.
Nikhat is a gold-medallist at the junior World Championships. The Hyderabadi was a silver-medallist at the youth World Championships as a 17-year-old last year and will get a chance to improve on that in the revamped edition.

The youngsters, all in the age bracket of 17 and 18, would be looking out for not just medals from April 14 to 24 in Sofia, Bulgaria but also a place in the Youth Olympics, scheduled to be held in Nanjing, China from August 16 to 28.
To qualify for the Youth Olympics, the boxers will have to reach at least the semi-finals of the world event.
The Indians would be competing under the International Boxing Association (AIBA) flag due to the termination of the Indian Boxing Federation following its failure to comply with the world body's directives on holding elections.

India had won a couple of silver medals and a bronze in the previous edition in Yerevan, Armenia.